Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 90

Community Top-Zzalal.
The atmosphere there had grown tense and chaotic.
The raid broadcast abruptly cut off.
That alone was enough to send things into disarray.
And on top of it, Neia had postponed her scheduled arrival as well.

[Isn’t this just clutching at straws?]
[Didn’t I tell you? Hype is a science.]
[What’s even happening in this situation right now?]

Of course, there were some voices of support.

[How is everyone already talking about hype when we haven’t even started?]
[Don’t you trust Neia yet?]
[Baek Jin-seong said on his broadcast it’s just for more thorough preparation.]

Baek Jin-seong had stepped in to offer an explanation.
Even so, this was the best they could do now.
Speculation was already running wild—talk of the trial failing in the worst-case scenario.
Anxiety had spread to its peak.

[Oh, can you believe this…!]

Meanwhile, there were those who welcomed Korea’s current predicament.
Spire, to be precise.
They’d held back briefly when the raid squad began their surprisingly efficient strategy.
But as the situation took an unexpected turn, they were raising their heads again.

[You’ve worked hard enough, Korea. Leave this to us now.]
[You’ve tried everything, but it seems this is where it ends.]
[Still, I hear Arc Guild and Tempest are making moves too?]
[It’s a chance to snag legendary weapons.]
[Competition’s going to be a pain though….]

The users on Top-Zzalal could barely contain their churning frustration.

[Ugh… drinking that premature victory wine again]
ㄴ Karma’s a bitch.
ㄴ Hype is a science. Need another proof?

[Is everything really okay?]
ㄴ Honestly, it’s not looking good.
ㄴ The only one left to trust is Neia now, but frankly, even that doesn’t inspire much confidence…

[What if Neia delays again?]
ㄴ Less than a day left now, right? If another delay notice drops right now, there’s gonna be a riot, Neia or not.
ㄴㄴ But honestly, what did Neia do wrong? If anyone’s to blame, it’s the raid squad for going dark.

Baek Jin-seong checked the Community.
A sigh escaped him unbidden.
“Hah….”
Since meeting Seon-woo, had there been many days where he dreaded turning on the broadcast like this?
He trusted him, of course.
No doubt about it.
After all, this was just maintenance for preparation—he’d said not to worry about it.
But the problem was the situation itself.
The raid squad already had everyone on edge.
With Kang Seon-woo adding to it, the atmosphere had turned decidedly sour.
Whether or not trials had ever truly hinged on Neia alone didn’t matter.
His anger, refracted and misdirected, was now aimed at the one who’d drawn the aggro.
“I suppose… I still have to stream.”
This was his role, after all.
When Neia exposed herself and drew the attention, it fell to him to keep the viewers engaged during his break.
A perfect partnership.
Perfect, at least—until someone dismissed it as parasitic, called him a broadcast mosquito.
Even that was part of the job to endure.
He couldn’t back away just because the situation was bad.

[Starting stream.]

As the notification appeared before his eyes, the broadcast began.
Viewers swarmed in like bees to honey the moment it went live.

— Jin-seong! Yo~
— There’s the man. Say hello to us.
— Any news on the auction front?

Messages flooded the chat.
Relatively calm, for now.
These were the Kang Seong Guild’s core fans, after all.
But the ones coming in now—they’d be trouble.
Just as expected.
The chat exploded into chaos in an instant.

— Why are we even hyping a level-20 scrub?
— Braised Short Ribs recipe: 1.5 lbs short ribs,
radish, carrot, onion…….
— Neia’s lost it completely…
— At least show your face and explain yourself.

There was nothing Baek Jin-seong could do.
Ignore it, or—

[You have removed ….]
[You have removed ….]
[You have removed ….]

Remove them.
Just one more day…
Hold on just one more day.
Then it would be Neia’s time.
The time he had promised.
‘Please, save me…’

* * *

Fifth day of the raid squad’s distress call.
The atmosphere was, unsurprisingly, terrible.
“We should never have attempted it in the first place.”
“We moved too hastily, expanding the scope too soon.”
“We escalated the situation with insufficient information.”
Yu Sera clung to reason as the guild representatives spoke.
‘That’s just hindsight!’
What stung most of all was this:
they’d all agreed with her when she’d first proposed it.
The Top 10 Guilds, including Nakwha Guild, were in the same position.
With Cheonggwol Guild wavering now, we need to secure the best possible position to gain an edge in the competition.
It was different from Kang Seong Guild, after all.
They already had a connection with Neia.
If we failed to make our mark this time, we’d be the ones losing the most.
That’s why everyone bet aggressively with one mind and purpose.
But now, watching them try to pin all the blame on me…
It was sickening enough to make your stomach turn. Bunch of schemers.
“Wouldn’t it be better to reach out externally, even now?”
“That’s not an option!”
At Cha Seong-hun’s suggestion, Yu Sera remained unmoved.
Even if they called it an emergency state.
The situation wasn’t actually that dire.
Fortunately, they’d had enough fresh water reserves from the start.
Food was tight, but not impossible to procure.
And more critically…
‘If we went public now…’
There’d be no excuse to avoid criticism.
They’d just mock us like frightened children hiding to escape a scolding.
We needed results.
Above all, if we backed down now, only the Nakwha Guild—who’d stepped forward to shoulder full responsibility—would face certain ruin.
“Here’s what we’ll do.”
Five days had passed.
We’d waited, wondering if it might attack again.
But we changed our approach.
“We’ll open a path.”
On the first day of our resumed expedition, it had attacked when purification was most active.
That meant, in other words, that wasn’t a situation it welcomed.
‘Interpreting the Crystal Tower as a tool to corner it… might be stretching it a bit…’
But it was worth attempting.
Right now, we couldn’t afford to pass up even a gamble like this.
Best case: it works, and we lure it out.
Worst case: we’re still better off than sitting idle.
“You mean force it to come out?”
“Exactly.”
Of course, doing this would create problems.
Dispersed power.
We wouldn’t be able to maintain a sufficiently binding trap.
Cha Seong-hun pressed on that point, as expected.
Yu Sera responded like this:
“We’ll solve that by arranging the Crystal Towers in a circle.”
Before, random placement had created chaos and extended the perimeter.
This time, we’d minimize that distance and secure actual efficiency.
The hesitant representatives began to voice their support one by one.
“Let’s give it a shot.”
“If I’m right, we have just under two days before Neia joins us? Let’s deliver results by then.”
It was obvious they thought they could just pass responsibility to her afterward.
But even their backing was enough to be grateful for now.
‘Besides, Neia will be just as concerned.’
We received external information periodically through radio.
Neia, who’d postponed her joining five days ago.
She might delay again this time.
But we couldn’t afford to simply relax and count on that.
“Let’s settle it before any unwanted interference comes in.”

* * *

The final day before joining the Trial.
I checked my preparations.
“Ar, come here.”
I inspected Ar’s combat learning state.

「Growth Level」- Lv. 1 (Learning Rate: 56%)

“Raising the level turns out to be harder than I thought.”
Each time a level increased, the growth rate slowed further.
Now I regretted not having captured more experience from that void leech.
‘Barrel Extension, then…’
Ar’s Level 1 ability was Barrel Extension.
I’d tested it once before, but it wasn’t particularly impressive.
Just the barrel getting slightly bulkier, really.
Under those circumstances, I’d pinned hopes on Ar’s Level 2 Overheat, but the slower growth meant I hadn’t yet confirmed it.
“Well done. Next is Sermin.”

「Growth Level」- Lv. 2 (Learning Rate: 06%)

Sermin, by contrast, had absorbed all the void leech’s experience.
She was at Level 2.
With two new abilities added, her performance had measurably improved.
Self-Repair and Shock Absorption.
Self-Repair recovered damage as its name suggested.
Shock Absorption transferred damage meant for others onto herself.
An ability that let her take hits in others’ stead while healing herself—truly overpowered for something so early.
These were the abilities I needed to grasp immediately.
Tia had also reached Level 2.
The problem was her two new abilities: Enhanced Bullets and Covert Sniping.
Enhanced Bullets merely strengthened the function of her ammunition’s trait manipulation.
Covert Sniping reduced her presence, nothing more.
Given Tia’s role as a sniper, these weren’t abilities that dramatically altered her operational effectiveness.
The same applied to Crail and Pluto as well.
They weren’t changes substantial enough to make an immediate impact.
“Everyone, you’ve done well. Rest now, and we’ll prepare to move at full strength.”
“Yes!”
After confirming everyone’s levels, I sent them off.
Then I turned to Neia.
“How’s troop production?”
“Proceeding smoothly. We’re at ninety percent of our target. Only a handful of units with longer production times remain.”
“Be more specific.”
Neia displayed a troop status table for the City on screen and answered.
“If you’re asking for the total unit count, it stands as follows:”

Five hundred Combat Drones.
Three hundred thirty Hunter Drones.
One hundred sixty-one Aegis units.

Nearly a thousand machines in all.
If before I’d commanded only company-strength forces,
this time I’d swelled to almost battalion scale.
Dedicating the City’s entire production capacity to construction alone had yielded this result.
“The drone production should be finished by tomorrow around noon, so where do things stand on your end?”
This Trial made me uneasy.
I’d revised and revised my strategy again and again.
Like an old man whittling wood, I was preparing custom solutions alongside specialized preparations.
“That work is already complete.”
“Good.”
After a good night’s sleep, I’d march out.
Of course, I wasn’t ignorant of the public sentiment outside.
Harsh words flew freely.
But if they meant nothing when channeled through Baek Jin-seong,
then ultimately nothing would change, so I dismissed them.
Ridicule could always be silenced by results.

And so it came to pass the next day.
After a full night’s sleep.
I entered the Tower first, preparing to begin the Trial at the time previously agreed upon with Baek Jin-seong.
“I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Yes, I’ll be waiting for you.”
I stepped through, received by Neia’s warm greeting.
[Entering the Tower]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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